The Canon de 25 antichar SA modèle
1934 Hotchkiss
and Canon de 25 antichar
SA-L modèle 1937 Puteaux
were the same gun mounted on two different carriages.
The model 1937 had a lighter carriage weighing only two-thirds that of
the
earlier model 34 and the gun was very slightly longer.

The French 25mm AT guns were very modern when they came into service in
1934. In 1940 there were 4500 guns in service but this was insuficient
to fully equip all units and some had WWI vintage 37mm guns instead.
These light anti-tank guns were crewed by the infantry or cavalry and
not by the artillery.

The 25mm proved very accurate and had an effective range of
800m at which it could destroy all German tanks except the Panzer IV
which the gunners needed to get at a closer range. The gun had a very
small silluette and a good flash suppressor, a combination which made
it very hard to
spot.

25mm anti-tank gun by Pithead.

Each 25mm AT gun in an infantry regiment had 156 AP/APT rounds
of which
72 were immediately available. There was no HE shell for this gun
so it could not be used against soft targets.

Two 25mm anti-tank guns from
Minifigs.

In non-motorised units the 25mm AT guns were generally towed behind a
horse-drawn model 1937 limber.
In combat the Renault UE tractor could be used to tow them.

In motorized infantry regiments the towing
vehicle was also often the Renault UE tractor and for long-range
movements various halftracks and trucks were used. The original mle
1934 gun was designed to be horse-drawn and found to
be too unstable for high speed towing by wheeled vehicles.
They were therefore transported carried on a truck or towed behind on additional "wheels"
(train rouleur).

The lightened mle 1937 could be towed behind tractors. In the divisional AT company/squadron of motorized
units the official towing vehicle could be the Laffly V15T in cavalry
units or the Latil M7 T1 in infantry units. The Unic TU1 was also used
for that task.

The 25mm anti-tank gun was very
fragile and could not withstand prolonged towing by motor
vehicles. It quickly became the practice for motorised units
to carry
their guns in the back of their vehicles.

The dragoon regiments (RDP)
in the Light Mechanised
Division (DLM)
soon mounted the 25mm guns belonging to their heavy weapons squadron in
their Laffly
S20TL trucks. The guns could be carried facing
forwards or
backwards and could be fired when mounted. When the gun faced forward
the windscreen had to be
lowered so Laffly produced a special vehicle with split
windscreens that allowed the driver’s side to remain up with
a forward facing gun.

About 220 of these guns were given to the British
Expeditionnary Force
(BEF) in exchange for some Boys AT-Rifles. The practice of carrying the
gun on the bed of a truck was copied by the
British and "Portee" became a British military term.

The Canon d'Infanterie de 37 modèle 1916 TRP was an
infantry support gun, first used during WWI. TR stands for tir rapide
(rapid fire) and
P for the manufacturer (Atelier de Puteaux).
For
transport this weapon could be broken down into 3 sections or wheels
could be added for towing. These guns were
sometimes equipped with an armored shield.

1036 of these guns are still
in service in 1940 in the French army (mostly in second line infantry
divisions) to perform as an anti-tank gun since there are
not enough of the new 25mm AT guns in service to equip all the infantry
regiments. In this role each gun
had 120 HE and 80 AP shells available.

The 25mm AT gun was lacking HE shells to neutralize
human/soft targets and therefore the 37mm TR infantry gun was still
liked since it could fire HE shells. Additionally it
was very accurate and had a high rate of fire.

The Canon de 47 antichar SA modèle 1937 Atelier
Puteaux was arguably the best anti-tank
gun on the battlefield in France 1940. Only the German 8,8 cm FlaK 18
had a better penetration but that gun's high silluette, poor
maneuvrability and lack of gunshield made it unsuitable for the
anti-tank role.

47mm anti-tank gun in 12mm from
Minifigs.

From 1918 to 1938, the French Army had employed the 75mm
modèle 1897 field gun in the anti-tank role.
Although this gun was an effective anti-tank weapon, it was too big,
too heavy and too unmaneuvrable
(6° traverse) to be a really effective anti-tank gun. In 1938,
the French Artillery
selected a 47mm gun manufactured by Atelier Puteaux as its new
anti-tank gun, although problems with the prototype and ammunition
delayed the start of production.

In 1940 there were 1200 guns in service but this was
insuficient
to fully equip all units and some still had the WWI
vintage 75mm
modèle 1897 gun. Unlike the light anti-tank guns,
these were crewed by
the artillery.

The 47mm was very accurate and had an effective range
of 1000m at which it could destroy all German tanks.

These guns were rarely horse-drawn and even in non-motorised
units these guns were vehicle-towed. The
Citroën-Kégresse P17, Unic P107, Laffly S15T or
Laffly W15T were all possible tractors.

This gun was respected by the Germans and in his memoirs,
"Achtung Panzer !", General Heinz
Guderian describes how hed directed the fire of a captured French 47mm
against an attacking Char B1 bis which the German's own 37mm anti-tank
guns had problems penetrating.

The 47 SA 37 also armed anti-tank vehicles such as
the
Laffly W15
TCC tank hunter (based on a 6x6 Laffly truck). By mid June
1940, 70
Laffly W15 TCCs had been produced, and their high mobility and
firepower had allowed them to rack up a huge kill ratio.

In 1940 there were insuficient 47mm guns to equip the
artillery's anti-tank units so WWI vintage 75mm guns were used
instead. Sometimes units had a mix of 47mm and 75mm guns.

A 75mm mle 1897/38 gun in action 1940.

The canon de 75 mm mle 1897 was a field artillery piece from
1897 which served throughout WWI and continued to equip
many horse-drawn field artillery units in 1940. It could be used
against
tanks but its limited 6° traverse made it less than
ideally suited for this role..

Two 75mm mle 1897 guns in 12mm from
Minifigs.

The canon de 75 mm mle 1897 modifié 1933 was a
modified version with a new split-trail carriage that entered service
in 1935.
It was intended for the anti-tank role with a split trail
carriage designed by the Atelier de Bourges. This gave it a
much
wide traverse (58° instead of 6°) as well as an
improved
elevation (-6° to +50° instead of -11° to
+18°). The
weight was however increased (1,550 kg instead of 1,140 kg).
kg). The wooden wheels were replaced by solid metal
wheels (without tyres). Only a small number were produced and they do
not seemed to have performed satisfactorily and by May 1940 most seem
to have been replaced in front-line units by 47mm guns or 75mm guns
with the Arbel platform.

In 1935 the Arbel platform was introduced; this was a simple
circular grooved base
that gave the gun a 360° field of fire, at the
cost of increased time to limber and unlimber. It was not unlike the
method used by the British on the 25pdr.

UNIC P107 towing a mle 1897/38 gun.

The canon de 75 mm mle 1897 modifié 1938 had the
original
wooden wheels replaced by metal wheels with tyres and the weight
increased to 1,500kg. Owing to lack of time only 700 guns were modified
and these were used to equip
motorized artillery units. The tractor used to pull these guns
was normally the UNIC P107 halftrack or Laffly S 15 TL
truck.

On June 6th, 1940 at Hornoy, a battery of 75mm mle 1897 guns
belonging to the 72nd Regiment of Artillery, claimed
38 German tanks destroyed in just one afternoon!